Grae Morris is assured of a medal in the Men’s Windsurfer after finishing the Paris 2024 qualifying series in first place. He will go straight into tomorrow’s Final which will feature just the three sailors in one frenetic race to decide the colour of their medal from 10pm AEST.
“It does ease my mind a little knowing that I’ll be coming home with something in my hand, but I won’t be fully satisfied until it’s over,” said Morris.
Morris entered the day with a one-point lead, and after three top ten finishes he had pushed that out to three points over Israeli athlete Tom Reuveny with New Zealander Josh Armit another three points back.
He will now become the first Australian to win a medal in Windsurfing since Lars Kleppich brought home Bronze from Barcelona 92 on the Mistral board.
The Medal Series commences with a Quarter Final for the riders ranked fourth to tenth from the qualifying series. The top two from that race move to the Semi Final with the riders ranked second and third, with the top two from that race qualifying for the Final where Morris awaits.
When asked what his preparation for tomorrow looked like, the man known as “Go Go Grae Morris” responded “Big dinner, good dessert and a great sleep.”
It was another light wind day in Marseille which caused long delays as sailors waited in the heat either onshore or out on the water for the predicted breeze to fill in.
Australia’s Women’s Skiff team of Olivia Price and Evie Haseldine will have to wait another day for their Medal Race, with in-and-out puffs forcing the cancellation of both the Men’s and Women’s classes today. They will return tomorrow to try again.
Tokyo 2020 ILCA 7 champion Matt Wearn got his campaign away cleanly and sits in second after his two races today.
“It’s just nice to get it underway,” said the Western Australian. “Having watched the Women’s and Men’s Skiffs race for the last few days it’s just nice to get underway ourselves.
“It was a tricky day as we were expecting in Marseille, so nice to get two solid races in,”
Zoe Thomson also commenced her debut Olympic Games with a twelfth in her one race, with the wind almost completely dying out late in the day.
Tomorrow will have a packed schedule with the Men’s Windsurfer Finals Series, the Women’s Skiff Medal Race, Men’s and Women’s Dinghy continuing and the first day of the Mixed Dinghy qualifying series featuring Australians Nia Jerwood and Conor Nicholas.
Conditions are predicted to be much the same as today, so sailors will need to be patient as they chase their chance at Olympic glory.
Paris 2024 Olympic Regatta standings
Men’s Windsurfer (24 entries)
1st: Grae Morris (AUS) (13), (25 DNS), 10, 9, 1, 7, 2, 1, 9, 2, 4, 7, 8 – 60 pts
2nd: Tom Reuveny (ISR) 8, 13, 5, 3, 3, 4, (25 BFD), 3, 5, 13, (15), 4, 2 – 63 pts
3rd: Josh Armit (NZ) 4, (18), 1, 14, 8, (25 UFD), 11, 2, 6, 4, 2, 3, 11 – 66 pts
Men’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Stefano Peschiera (PER) 6, 1 – 7 points
2nd: Matt Wearn (AUS) 12, 2 – 14 points
3rd: Eduardo Marques (POR) 5, 11 – 16 points
Women’s Skiff (20 entries)
1st: Sarah Steyaert & Charline Picon (FRA) 2, 2, 2, 8, 2, 2, 12, 11, 10, (18), 6, 10 – 67 pts
2nd: Odile Van Aanholt & Annette Duetz (NED) 5, 1, 1, 10, 8, 5, (19), 3, 2, 15, 4, 14 – 68 points
3rd: Vilma Bobeck & Rebecca Netzler (SWE) 14, 6, 15, 4, 15, 10, 2, 1, 5, 1, 1, (17) – 74 pts
9th: Olivia Price & Evie Haseldine (AUS) 6, 8, 16, 7, 11, 3, (20), 10, 9, 10, 10, 12 – 102 pts
Women’s Dinghy (43 entries)
1st: Louise Cervera (FRA) 1 – 1 point
2nd: Min Gu (CHI) 2 – 2 points
3rd: Chiara Benini Floriani (ITA) 3 – 3 points
12th: Zoe Thomson (AUS) 12 – 12 points
Men’s Skiff (20 entries)
1st: Diego Botin Le Chever & Florian Trittel Paul (ESP) (16), 6, 4, 5, 11, 2, 3, 2, 2, 15, 12, 6 – 68 pts
2nd: Robert Dickson & Sean Waddilove (IRL) 9, 4, 1, 4, 2, (21 DSQ), 4, 13, 9, 11, 14, 2 – 73 pts
3rd: Isaac Kale McHardie & William McKenzie (NZL) 1, 3, 8, 8, 1, 1, 11, (18), 17, 1, 10, 15 – 76 pts
15th: Jim Colley & Shaun Connor (AUS) 19, 17, 10, 14, 10, 9, 12, 3, 10, 3, 16, (20) – 123 pts
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